Enhancing Literacy Through Community Support
Friends of the Mill Creek Library Create an Impact
Cedar Wood Elementary: Pictured left to right: Whitney Teague (grant winner), Mary Howisey, Jennifer Black – EPSF Board member, Kelly Anderson (Grant winner) Kelly Anderson & Whitney Teague for their grant: “ Engaging Families Through a Book Study” $366.03
The Friends of the Mill Creek Library (FMCL) is a group of volunteers dedicated to supporting the Mill Creek Library and local literacy efforts. We do that by raising funds, mainly through sales of used books that have been donated to us by members of the community. While we no longer hold an annual book sale, we do sell books every day the library is open. Stop by the library lobby to see our selection, which changes every day based on donations.
Due to the tremendous generosity of both those who donate books and those who purchase books from the FMCL, this year we have had the opportunity to give financial support to several literacy-related projects in our area schools, in partnership with the Everett Public Schools Foundation. Here is an example:
- Cedar Wood Elementary's 4th grade (Highly Capable) teachers, Kelly Anderson and Whitney Teague are “Engaging Families Through a Book Study” by providing each student’s family with a copy of the book, How to Raise an Adult, by Julie Lythcott-Haims. Families will read and discuss the book with the teachers over the school year. This project is intended to strengthen the teacher-parent relationship, deepen the home-school partnership, and thereby improve educational experiences and more fully support students both inside and outside of school.
- Hawthorne Elementary has implemented the RULER curriculum, an evidence-based approach to social and emotional learning (Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating), and School Counselor Katherine Henson is creating a library of RULER-related books as a centrally located resource for teachers, staff, and students. Topics covered in the books requested help simplify the complex teaching of emotions.
- Lowell Elementary's Speech-Language Pathologists Kelly Marks and April Weitkamp believe all children can learn to read and write, including those with severe developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities. Following the best practices of Comprehensive Literacy for All (by Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaven), this grant will provide students with books that are age-appropriate, interesting, engaging, and support the district’s curriculum. This is a collaborative project that involves various school personnel, inside and outside the classroom.
- Madison Elementary’s population is 29% multilingual, and Librarian Julie Smith is updating their collection with bilingual and non-English books to represent the students’ primary languages. Providing students with books in their primary language supports those students by allowing them to continue developing their reading skills as they learn English. In addition, bilingual books are of great interest to many English-speaking students who wish to learn other languages.
- Penny Creek Elementary's 4th grade teacher Dana Vance is “Going Beyond” and taking her students on a reading journey to explore the multiple cultural groups her students represent. This project is intended to go beyond simply acknowledging the cultures of the students in the class; they will instead gain a deeper understanding of their own and other students’ cultural characteristics.
- Woodside Elementary's 2nd grade teacher Amanda Zech asked for read-aloud books that teach about inclusion and diversity to enhance the overall acceptance of those who differ from themselves. In addition, Ms. Zech asked for small sets of chapter books for those students who are reading at a higher level.
Reviewing the impressive grant applications submitted by these educators reminded us of the amazing work being done on behalf of young people in our community. Hundreds of local students will be served by the grants the FMCL funded, and we are thankful for the opportunity to participate in this process.